Accidental Love

"Huh?"

Zheng Shuyi stared at Shi Yan, trying to think back, "Is that… a long long time ago?"

Her eyes turned in circles as she murmured to herself, "Could it be when I was in college? It can't be any earlier right? I just came to Jiang City during college."

Shi Yan flicked the back of his hand towards her.

Zheng Shuyi returned to her senses, "What?"

"Time for you to go back."

Shi Yan slowly rolled up the car window with an urgent expression.

Zheng Shuyi pressed on the car window and said, "Tell me about it, I can't remember."

Hearing the words "I can't remember" made Shi Yan feel like it was a joke to even mention it at this time.

He lifted off Zheng Shuyi's fingers one by one.

"Don't think about it if you can't remember."

——

Although Shi Yan didn't seem to want to continue this topic, Zheng Shuyi took this question all the way back home and sat on the bedside thinking about it for a long time.

If she had ever seen Shi Yan, she thought, she would have definitely clearly remembered it.

But since Shi Yan refused to tell him, she didn't have the ability to force open his mouth either.

Zheng Shuyi fell onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. The three-petal crystal lamp illuminated a bright beam of light, and tiny dust particles danced happily in it.

She watched, then the corner of her mouth suddenly curved up. Then she rolled over to get up and walked towards the kitchen briskly.

Although Zheng Shuyi's kitchen had all the kitchenware a kitchen should have, she rarely cooked. There were only instant foods in the fridge, and the rice bag in the storage cabinet wasn't opened either.

For some reason, ever since returning from the hospital, Zheng Shuyi felt like she wasn't sick anymore.

The body temperature dropped without her realizing and her body felt lighter too. Even the bowl of porridge without any seasonings tasted delicious.

After eating, Zheng Shuyi walked around in the living room and felt that she even had the energy to go to work.

But……

She stretched her legs while sitting on the sofa, and felt tired all of the sudden.

She just wanted to lie down at home and not think about anything. It seemed that only that way could she live up to the fresh air after the rain.

——

At about five o'clock, Qin Shiyue sent a message: Are you feeling better?

Zheng Shuyi turned over and texted back with her legs crossed while leaning on the bed.

Zheng Shuyi: I'm fully recovered now.

Zheng Shuyi: Thank you for the help today.

Qin Shiyue: Huh?

Qin Shiyue: Thank me for what?

Zheng Shuyi: Nothing, just thank you for your concern.

Qin Shiyue: It's nothing, so what are you doing now?

Zheng Shuyi: Nothing, just resting.

Qin Shiyue: Then when will you help me?

Zheng Shuyi suddenly remembered what she told her before and immediately went to her friends’ list to find Yu You.

When she swiped down, something suddenly flashed across her mind and her body froze.

So jew a few days ago, she thought that she and Shi Yan would never come across each other in life ever again, so she deleted him.

Then could that be what he was trying to remind of her today in the car?

No, definitely not.

He would only find out that she removed him if he tried to send her a message.

And if he really did find out, he wouldn’t be mentioning it with such a calm temper.

Zheng Shuyi comforted herself while biting her fingertips with a guilty conscience.

Zheng Shuyi: Give me your uncle's WeChat first.

Qin Shiyue: ???

Qin Shiyue: Don't you have him already?

Zheng Shuyi: Oh, my hand slipped and I accidentally deleted yet.

Qin Shiyue: Sis, I'm not a three-year-old, I wouldn't believe such words [smile]

Qin Shiyue: How much do you have to drink to accidentally delete a person?

Zheng Shuyi: Don't ask.

Qin Shiyue didn't continue asking and obediently sent Shi Yan's profile over.

Since only one side deleted the friend, there was no need to send another friend request. After Zheng Shuyi clicked "Add to Contacts", Shi Yan returned to her list of friends.

Except for that there was no more chat history visible, everything else looked the same as before.

Looking at the blank screen, Zheng Shuyi was uncomfortable to the point that she felt like there was something scratching her heart.

After thinking for a long time, she carefully sent a sticker.

Zheng Shuyi: In-a-daze.GIF

Unexpectedly, Shi Yan quickly replied.

But it was in his cold style as always.

Shi Yan: Too much time on your hands?

Zheng Shuyi:…

Zheng Shuyi: No, I have been thinking about something very seriously recently. I want to ask you about it.

Shi Yan: Go ahead.

She held her phone in hand and just like a middle school girl who just fell in love and typed on the phone with a smile on her face.

Zheng Shuyi: What is your ideal girlfriend like?

She wasn't really thinking about this question.

Zheng Shuyi knew that he at least liked herself a little bit.

But while waiting for a reply, she still looked forward to it.

It took several minutes before he replied.

Shi Yan: Quiet.

"…"

Shi Yan: Mature.

"…"

Shi Yan: Serious.

"…"

A few seconds later, Zheng Shuyi typed expressionlessly.

Zheng Shuyi: Zheng Shuyi, a professional journalist from ‘Finance Weekly', has a quiet personality, is mature at her workplace, and writes seriously.

Zheng Shuyi: I think I am your ideal type.

Shi Yan: Really?

Zheng Shuyi didn't understand what his sudden enigmatic word meant.

Immediately afterward, Shi Yan sent over some screenshots.

Zheng Shuyi didn't have the chat history anymore, but he did.

The first one was a screenshot of five stickers that Zheng Shuyi sent in a row.

In the second screenshot.

Zheng Shuyi: Karen Mok's "Cloudy Day", Jay Chou's "Sunny Day", and Stefanie Sun's "Rainy Day", but I just want your "Chatting Day".1How do I say this… TOO HARD FOR ME TO TRANSLATE T_T. First of all, the first song is Karen Mok's "Overcast", but the literal translation is "Cloudy Day". And the way the pun works is that all of them end in the word "day", and in Chinese, the word ‘to chat', (聊天), also has the word ‘day’ in it. So she's saying instead of listening to the song, "Overcast", the song "Sunny Day", and the song "Rain Day", she'd rather just chat with Shi Yan, but she chose these specific songs to make it rhyme and fun. I tried my best…

In the third screenshot.

Zheng Shuyi: Do you like to drink water?

Shi Yan: A little.

Zheng Shuyi: Then you already like 70% of me.

In the fourth screenshot.

Zheng Shuyi: Do you know how to play the violin?

Shi Yan: No.

Zheng Shuyi: Then how did you pluck my heartstrings?

Shi Yan: …

In the fifth screenshot.

Zheng Shuyi: Oh my god, it seemed like an earthquake just now, did you feel it? 

Shi Yan: ?

Zheng Shuyi: Oh, it's not an earthquake, it's my heart beating when I think of you.

Shi Yan: Shut up.

In the sixth screenshot.

Zheng Shuyi: I found that you are almost a perfect person, you're only missing one thing.

Shi Yan:?

Zheng Shuyi: You're missing me.

Shi Yan: Zheng Shuyi, go to the hospital and check on your brain.

Seeing these screenshots sent over, Zheng Shuyi couldn't breathe anymore.

Her skull was feeling so numb that it felt like thousands of ants were crawling on her. Her toes were digging into the ground and almost dug up a three-bedroomed house.

After having not much contact in the past month and being separated from Shi Yan for a while, she fell into an extremely depressed mood and almost forgot how it was before.

I, I… used to talk… like this?

These Internet pick-up lines are terrible!

Zheng Shuyi: Stop!

Zheng Shuyi: Stop sending!

Unfortunately, Shi Yan kept sending as if he didn't see what she sent.

He didn't even have to go look for them, they were everywhere.

Until after he sent more than a dozen screenshots.

Zheng Shuyi couldn't stand it anymore.

Zheng Shuyi: TD! ! ! ! !

Shi Yan finally stopped.

Shi Yan: Huh?

Zheng Shuyi: If you keep sending, you'll see the news of a young beauty committing suicide.

Shi Yan: Don't you want to see how quiet, mature, and serious you are?

"…"

She fell onto the sofa, buried her face in the pillow, and didn't want to look at the phone again.

She couldn't continue this conversation anymore.

After not receiving a reply from Zheng Shuyi for a long time, Shi Yan knew that she was probably hiding in shame and embarrassment.

He smiled. Although he was very busy, he still sent some boring words: What are you doing?

As soon as he sent it, Chen Sheng walked into the office and pointed outside.

Shi Yan immediately put down his phone and walked towards the conference room.

The number of Mingyu Cloud's users has been sky-rocketing recently. The original data center could no longer hold the business growth, but the independent expansion of IDC required high construction, operation, and maintenance costs.

After discussion by the various managers, they agreed that the best solution right now would be to directly cooperate with professional companies and build the most advanced cloud service platform.

Mingyu Cloud's project was like a free pancake from the sky; various financial solution companies were all competing to be first.

This week, the three companies that competed in the final stage demonstrated their plans separately.

And today, the representative sent by the last company has arrived.

In the meeting room.

The printed presentation files were placed onto the seats of the U-shaped table, and the presentation was already projected on the screen.

Yue Xingzhou stood in front of the computer and was doing some final preparations.

His hands were slightly trembling.

"Brother Hong," Yue Xingzhou glanced at the Mingyu staff members in the conference room and said, "I, I don't think I can…"

"Be confident!"

The person called "Brother Hong" was Yue Xingzhou's boss. He patted on his shoulder and said, "You're the backbone of this project. After preparing for so long, you can do it! Don't be too nervous. Although it's Mingyu Cloud, just pretend it's some other company we worked with before. Just keep calm."

Of course, Yue Xingzhou couldn't calm his mind.

In the beginning, he took the initiative to squeeze into this project partially because Qin Lezhi was here. And back then when he was trying his hardest, he also wanted to prove his abilities in front of her "uncle".

But who could have thought that things would turn out to be like this?

Back then he fought so hard, and now all he wanted was to run away.

Before Yue Xingzhou was able to do more, the door of the meeting room suddenly opened.

Yue Xingzhou subconsciously turned his head to look over. Shi Yan walked in, behind him came some other men and women in formal clothes.

The conference room suddenly turned silent.

Yue Xingzhou could feel the surrounding air squeeze towards him.

However, Shi Yan did not look at him. He walked to the U-shaped table, sat down, and when his gaze swept across Yue Xingzhou, it didn't stay on his face for more than a moment.

As if he had never seen this person before.

This was originally the best scene that Yue Xingzhou could expect.

But for some reason, he felt like he just got stepped on like a pile of dust.

——

Since Shi Yan came in, all the other employees who were organizing the conference room left, and then it was Yue Xingzhou"s turn to "shine".

Shi Yan leaned back in his chair and looked at the person in front of the screen.

Even under normal circumstances, such a gaze would be frightening, not to mention all the other thoughts in Yue Xingzhou's mind.

In less than twenty minutes, the sweat on his forehead was already glowing under the lights.

And when he said the content that he has memorized over and over again, he kept staggering and making mistakes.

Even the little boy who was in charge of the audio-visual equipment beside him couldn't help frowning.

As for the others, they all turned their heads to see Shi Yan's reaction.

However, he didn't seem to be as angry as they would have imagined.

He just looked at Yue Xingzhou calmly, but his thoughts seem to be somewhere else.

――In other words, absent-minded.

It was the first time everyone saw Shi Yan being absent-minded on such an occasion.

For a second, they didn't know whether this was Yue Xingzhou's luck or misfortune.

A few minutes later.

When Yue Xingzhou said the wrong data for the third time, a sound of a pen being placed on the table suddenly came from below.

The noise was very quiet, but everyone's expression changed.

Yue Xingzhou was like a frightened bird, and couldn't continue anymore. He stared at Shi Yan nervously.

Under his gaze, Shi Yan closed the files in front of him, got up, and walked outside.

Even at this moment, he still didn't say a single word.

The others also got up quietly and just like how they came in, they followed him out of the conference room.

The sound of the chairs being pushed out was swallowed by the carpet and the meeting room was as quiet as if it pressed the mute button.

Yue Xingzhou watched Mingyu Cloud's people walk out of the room one after another.

They didn't say anything nor show a disappointed expression.

But this type of invisible humiliation made him feel a thousand times worse than being scolded in person.

——

When Shi Yan returned to the office, the emotions on his face were slightly revealed.

He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and didn't know whether to laugh or to be angry.

When he saw Yue Xingzhou making all the mistakes, he thought of the scene when he first met Zheng Shuyi.

Shi Yan was ashamed to admit it, but he was once jealous of such a man.

He couldn't remember the specific time.

It was just an ordinary day.

Jiang City Exhibition Center was holding the 4th Financial News Awards Ceremony. One of the organizers was his friend's newly established capital company.

Shi Yan happened to have time that day and felt like going. He chose an inconspicuous corner and sat down.

As the applause opened the curtain of the awards ceremony, under the spotlight, the host's voice was dignified and clear as he read the name of the winner of the Annual Best Featured Character Award.

The article, Zhuxing's Currency War, precisely hit the key points of the market, making the three words "Zheng Shuyi" appear frequently in all the colleagues' ears.

Anyone who read this article before would be impressed by the sharp and unwavering style of writing.

Shi Yan was no exception. So when the host said her name, he subconsciously raised his head.

The moment Zheng Shuyi got up, the shutter sound of the four cameras came one after another, trying to be the one to capture the best moments of this new famous figure.

Shi Yan didn't even notice that his eyes were following Zheng Shuyi all the way to the stage.

She was a bit nervous, but she was dignified and finished her acceptance speech in an orderly manner.

Like her article, her short speech was interspersed with industry facts, was logical, clear, and exceptionally fascinating.

And it even had some humorous points which made the audience laugh several times.

Shi Yan casually loosened the Windsor knot of his tie. When she bowed, he saw her thick eyelashes fanning down.

His eyes flashed at the same moment.

After the awards ceremony, people came up to celebrate one after the other. Shi Yan couldn't leave and noticed Zheng Shuyi being surrounded by people on the side.

When he finally got out, he scanned the hall, only to see her shadow at the doors.

He didn't even think before he stepped out to chase after her.

But the second he walked out of the doors, he saw Zheng Shuyi lovingly holding a man's arm and walking towards the parking lot with a smile.

An indescribable emotion filled up Shi Yan's heart.

He kept walking, but his expression had returned to normal.

As he passed by the two of them, he heard the woman say gently, "Of course I'm thinking about you, aren't you doing the same? Oh, then I guess not."

Shi Yan chuckled lightly.

They looked much like a fated couple. Both seemed sincere with their words and actions…

But that was all… their relationship still crumbled.

——

Shi Yan was too lazy to go think about the past. After sitting back at his desk, he picked up his phone and opened WeChat. He saw the message that Zheng Shuyi sent about 20 minutes ago. It was a voice message.

He asked what she was doing.

But she replied, "Thinking about you."

After hearing this voice message, Shi Yan threw his phone back onto the table.

Outside the window, the sky was getting dark. Inside, a warm breeze flowed in the air.

But his face felt like it was burning.

1How do I say this… TOO HARD FOR ME TO TRANSLATE T_T. First of all, the first song is Karen Mok's "Overcast", but the literal translation is "Cloudy Day". And the way the pun works is that all of them end in the word "day", and in Chinese, the word ‘to chat', (聊天), also has the word ‘day’ in it. So she's saying instead of listening to the song, "Overcast", the song "Sunny Day", and the song "Rain Day", she'd rather just chat with Shi Yan, but she chose these specific songs to make it rhyme and fun. I tried my best…